WBA middleweight beltholder Gennady Golovkin “beats” RING super middleweight champion Andre Ward if they were to meet, according to Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, who ranks the 160-pounder behind Sugar Ray Robinson and Bernard Hopkins as the best in the division’s history.

WBO light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev’s reference to African Americans as “dark-skinned people” during a Russian-language interview was not meant as a negative “for black persons,” according to his manager, Egis Klimas.

WBO light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev could return to the ring in Moscow as early as March, accordingto his manager, Egis Klimas. Kovalev says he wants to fight RING champ Adonis Stevenson in 2014.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said that he would begin working on a light heavyweight title unification bout between IBF titleholder Bernard Hopkins and WBA beltholder Beibut Shumenov “immediately.”

Most of the fighters involved in the Adrien Broner-Marcos Maidana, Leo Santa Cruz-Cesar Seda, Keith Thurman-Jesus Soto Karass and Beibut Shumenov-Tamas Kovacs matchups promised fireworks on Saturday at The Alamodome in San Antonio.

Adonis Stevenson, Carl Froch, Gennady Golovkin, Sergey Kovalev and Tim Bradley are among those to be featured over the course of 10 bouts and five nights starting on Dec. 23 on HBO’s on “Boxing’s Best.”

RING/WBC lightweight champ Adonis Stevenson will be after his fourth stoppage win of the year on Saturday against WBC mandatory challenger Tony Bellew. Thirteen boxing insiders give their picks on the HBO-televised showdown.

WBO light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev is 10-0-1 with 10 knockouts in his past 11 fights heading into Saturday’s defense against Ismayl Sillakh, who has won four in a row since losing to Denis Grachev last April.

Light heavyweight champ Adonis Stevenson on Saturday’s mandatory challenger Tony Bellew: “You can be sure that I am going to knock Bellew out. I think that the fight is going to go about four or five rounds and then I’m going to knock him out.”

Carlos Molina has until next June to defend his IBF junior middleweight belt against a mandatory challenger, and Bernard Hopkins has until next July to do the same with his IBF light heavyweight title.

IBF light heavyweight titleholder Bernard Hopkins has some options on what he does next but he says he’s looking for a “super fight” for his next bout and would like to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. as a middleweight.